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Adams Musical Instruments - Together in Music

Krystina Marcoux

Flamboyant and energetic, Krystina Marcoux is rapidly gaining a reputation for her particular interest in interdisciplinary works and her strong commitment to developing new repertoire and arrangements for the marimba. She has gained a solid reputation as one of Canada’s new leading percussionist, her playing considered by critics as both sweetly melodic and strongly percussive. She has been noticed for “her exceptional shows, both visually and musically. The lovely musician delights the eye with her stage presence and her breathtaking mastery, in addition to charming our ears with the wide range of sounds, sometimes muffled, sometimes dazzling, always enveloping, if not intoxicating, that she draws from her instruments.”

Krystina's Adams Gear

She also dedicates her creativity in conceiving shows that combine musical excellence to other artistic disciplines. She strongly defends the idea that a stage is one malleable material that needs bending, curving and playing around, just like plasticine. Allying theater, dance, stand-up comedy, miming, humor or even sports to her percussion playing on stage, Krystina strives to open her musical world to a larger and broader audience.

Winner of many prestigious prizes, such as the First Prize of the OSM Competition or the Fondation Banque Populaire de France, she has proven an extremely high musical and technical level. Her unique artistic vision brought festivals such as the Biennale Musiques en Scène de Lyon, the Colombian Percussion Festival FOSBO or Montreal’s Festival Classica to commission her shows.

Originally from Quebec, she obtained her doctoral studies under the guidance of Jean Geoffroy at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon, where she specialized in the relationship between theatre, dance and music. At the CNSMD and in partnership with the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre, she has conceived and taught a program for musicians and actors, bringing both disciplines together so that they can learn from one another.

Collaborations

Stick&Bow
Stick&Bow, “The trailblazing Montreal duo that plays everything from Bach to Radiohead” (CBC Music’s The Intro), unites Canadian marimba player Krystina Marcoux and Argentinian cellist Juan Sebastian Delgado. Classically trained musicians, they present a wide spectrum of musical styles, ranging from rock to gypsy-jazz and baroque to tango. Their eclectic repertoire features original arrangements of some of the most celebrated works in history, highlighting the potential of their instruments combined. In their creative process, Stick&Bow combines musical narration with humor and storytelling in which the powerful combination of cello and marimba transforms the listening of familiar works in refreshing and unexpected ways. Stick&Bow is also strongly committed to the music of our time, commissioning works that are daring yet accessible from composers such as Luis Naon, Camille Pe´pin, Luna Pearl Woolf, Jason Noble, Marcelo Nisinman, Jean-Pierre Drouet among others.

Stick&Bow’s critically acclaimed debut album Resonance was praised by Toronto’s The WholeNote as “just brilliant” and “totally delightful” and by La Scena Musicale as full of “pleasant surprises.” Krystina and Juan toured their innovative new program, featuring music from Bach to Radiohead, throughout Quebec and New Brunswick as “Emerging Artists” with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada in 2019, along with recent stops in Paris’ Belleviloise to a full house and in New York City’s APAP showcase in January 2020. Featured in CBC Music’s The Intro and described as “boldly going where no cello and marimba have gone before,”Stick&Bow has been busy with digital performances during the Covid-19 crisis. They were one of the few classical crossover groups to be selected by the National Arts Center in Ottawa for the #CanadaPerforms live concerts; they arranged the song Pour de´jouer l’ennui and released a video together with star singer Pierre Lapointe which was watched over 100K times in less than 24 hours; they recorded their second album of music by J.S Bach for the label Analekta with internationally renowned harpsichord player, Luc Beause´jour; they arranged, recorded and performed a new Latin-American program commissioned by Baruch College in New York; and they recorded five music videos, Piccolo Sessions, featuring new arrangements of music by Sting, Casals and Carlos Puebla released in 2021 (LEAF music label).

Recent highlights include: All the Madmen, a show inspired by music of Beethoven, David Bowie and Tom Waits, commissioned by Festival Classica; the children’s show, Bavela et ses 7 vies d’aventure on the subject of El di´a de los muertos, combining live narration, animated drawings, original music and arrangements, commissioned by Arte Musica and Salle Bourgie; participating at the prestigious Bach Festival Montreal, performing J.S Bach’s trio sonatas with Luc Beause´jour and performing at the Festival du Bout du Monde in Gaspe with folk musicians exploring different musical traditions.

Upcoming projects for 2022-23 include: a 40-dates concert tour in France with the prestigious organization Jeunesses Musicales France, new commissioned works by composers Analia Llugdar, Alcides Lanza and Luis Naon, a new recording of works by Piazzolla together with the legendary tango-jazz pianist Gustavo Beytelmann featuring marimba, vibraphone, cello and piano to be released in 2022 with Analekta and upcoming concert dates in Argentina, France and US.

Stick&Bow with Luc Beauséjour
Renown harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour met Krystina several years ago when asked to take part in a concert of the Orchestre symphonique de Montre´al conducted by Kent Nagano. The concert featured well-known works by Vivaldi and Krystina performed her own arrangement of the Concerto for Two Cellos in G Minor RV 531 on marimba. On stage, both musicians felt a fantastic musical connection and several months later, Luc suggested to Krystina, over coffee, to prepare a Bach concert together. As the program took shape, it became clear that Bach’s trio sonatas for organ would be ideal for both their instruments. With the addition of cellist Juan Sebastian Delgado, Krystina’s partner in the duo Stick&Bow, the team was complete.

The trio -marimba, harpsichord, cello- performs the sonatas without having to modify Bach’s original scores. The harpsichordist plays the upper part in the right hand and the bass part in the left, doubled by the cello, and the marimba covers the middle part. This new musical combination gives a refreshing color to this well-known works and a new perspective of the different voices and the counterpoint.

Jean-Pierre Drouet
Since 2020, Krystina has been working closely with French percussionist legend Jean-Pierre Drouet. She is working on a new commissioned work Drouet offered her that will be recorded in March 2022 in Paris, France. She is also developing a body of articles to showcase the life and work of this extremely important musical figure. With her work, she wishes to share many biographical elements that are unknown to many but that have influenced Drouet’s work. She also digs-in to the collaborations Drouet has had with many of the most important composers of the 20th century. A performance practice approach is presented for each work, underlying the artistic input Drouet has had in these collaborations. Thanks to these articles, Krystina hopes to present an understanding of the original performances of these works, so to inform percussionists about the origins of a work and its importance in understanding and making musical decisions today.